We’re all good in some areas of life. With enough effort, it’s possible to break into the top 25% of an industry. By becoming better in that skill than the majority of the population, you can attract extraordinary success.

You may not want to indulge in preachy thoughts like ‘my purpose is something bigger on the planet.’ But you at least need to define your zone of competency.

Then…

2. Get in the right kind of mindset.

A central aspect of improving yourself is “believing that your brain and intelligence are fluid entities – that they aren’t fixed.” Psychologist Carol Dweck calls it the growth mindset.

In all probability, you can’t become the next Einstein (I’ll trade that with being ’Mr. Bean,’ anyway).

But if you believe that you’ve low intellect and you’re dumb, then so you become. It’s called having a fixed mindset, and it’s the opposite of what Ms. Carol advocates.

Human guinea pig, Tim Ferriss, didn’t settle for his lack of fast twitch muscle fiber – which he would need for power training. Rather he tested the obvious by getting a tissue removed from his leg in a muscle biopsy.

So consider your talents, intellect, and learning capabilities as unlimited. Push yourself and take action in spite of the fear.

Next up, you need to question traditional wisdom by setting extravagant goals…

3. Set ambitious goals and practice 10x thinking.

You might have welcomed the New Year with challenging goals like ‘becoming a powerlifter.’ By late January, you’re falling off your goals and entering dangerous territory.

If you continue your average behavior, then by the end of February, your life might return to normal.

Stop living such an average story.

Most resolutions are simple in theory. But they aren’t easy.

You need the discipline to show up every day at the gym. And it takes a lot of mental overhead to remember your commitment to healthy superfoods.

Besides undisciplined behavior, there’s another reason most of us fail – vagueness. You might get lost if you just set ambitious goals that have no defined way of moving forward.

For every achievement, your brain releases a chemical called as dopamine, which creates a sense of pleasure.

Your brain craves a clear, quantifiable, and specific metric – so think big, but break it down into simpler steps.

For example: ‘Become an intermediate-level guitar player’ can be made more precise and measurable with ‘improvise a blues solo for 5 minutes.’

When writing down your goals, another essential aspect is pushing the envelope by practicing 10x thinking.

Instead of taking it from me, here’s Peter Thiel summing it up: “How can you achieve your 10-year plan in the next six months?”

The idea is to get creative and attack the problem in an extremely unconventional manner. You’ll research your field, interview experts, and find out the necessary ingredients that lead to peak performance.

4. Ultimately, let go and ‘unthink!’

You got over the fear and committed. You’re all in. You learn the ropes and internalize the rules so that you no longer need the rulebook.

That doesn’t mean you don’t have weaknesses. You might still struggle; even fail. But your biggest roadblock is that you’re intellectualizing the event.

Your most creative output won’t take shape when you’re judgemental about it.

Artists craft their masterpieces in a state of trance. Everything flows so seamlessly that they lose the sense of time. Psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, calls this state in which our consciousness recedes, as flow.

Our culture has made such a fanfare around self-awareness, that it almost seems like the panacea for identifying the loopholes that hinder success. Well, not in this case.

Chintan Zalani is an absurdly curious writer with a hatred for wet bathroom floors. You can visit his website to sign up for his 5-lesson email masterclass on breaking conventions. If you’re up for thoughtful content with layers of psychology, philosophy, science, and data, then check out ChintanZalani.com. You can also follow him on Facebook, Instagram, Medium and Pinterest.

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